Boot Camp

The job hunt continues. My newest job-searching strategy has been to buy out the magazine selection at the local bookstore and email everyone on the masthead of each magazine. I've sent out too many emails to count or remember. In my emailing frenzy, I even stupidly sent the wrong cover letter to someone at a completely different magazine. Oops! Guess I won't be hearing back from them... BUT, my endless feed of emails has started to somewhat pay off! I've received a couple of encouraging emails saying that while there are no positions available now, they would be happy to keep my resume on file if something does open up. Whoopee! I've also spoken to a couple people on the phone about their career paths and received some insightful advice. So far, two people have encouraged me to pursue some sort of class or job that relates to food. If you really want to get into food writing, you need something in your background that shows that passion and that edge. Everyone wants to be a food writer or has a food blogthese days, so you need something to make you shine against the competition. Who knew writing about food could be so cutthroat! Luckily, I've already got a bit of that "edge" in my pocket.

Two summers ago, I attended Culinary Boot Camp at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. And Boot Camp, it certainly was! The first day we were scheduled to arrive at 6 or 7 in the morning (I was in too much of a sleepy haze to remember). I show up in this freezing cold, cellar-like room, and I am the youngest person by at least 15 years. (The minimum age requirement is 21, but I was only 20 at the time and managed to sneak by that!) Everyone sleepily and anxiously kept to themselves. Eventually we received our chef garb and were instructed to change. Feeling even more out of place, as my 5'2" frame drowned in my checked chef's pants and white coat, we were introduced to each other through a series of icebreaker-type games. People came from all different places, backgrounds, and levels of culinary training, but we were all united by our love of food.

Within the larger group of 15 people, we were then broken down into 5 teams of 3. Everyday, each team received a different menu, which we were to recreate in the kitchen and then present to the entire group. And then, of course, EAT. These menus incorporated various cooking techniques that we learned early in the morning's demonstration: knife cuts, sautée, poach, braise, deep-fry, etc.

I remember one morning each student had to peel and cut what seemed to be an insane amount of apples, oranges, and grapefruit. I could not for the life of me do it! The juice drenched my hands, and I could not get a steady hold on the orange in order to cut out the flesh from between the two membranes. I was so frustrated and annoyed, I thought I was going to cry.

I also remember having to julienne like 20 carrots (well it felt like 20). By the end, my neck was getting tight and my hands started to cramp. Our instructor, a stout, feisty, little chef, came over to me and said my julienne was too sloppy and not even, to keep on going. ARGH!! This cooking was tough stuff!

I did have a few highlights of the week though: deep-fried flounder (although I think it's hard to mess up deep-fried anything) and roasted pheasant. Never before had I roasted a full bird of any sorts, let alone a pheasant. With my team, we decided to roast the pheasant with white wine, tomatoes, garlic, and bacon. It was a success! Our fiery instructor even complimented me on its juiciness!

Each night of the Boot Camp, we also dined at one of the restaurants on the CIA campus. But that deserves a whole other blog post of its own.

So one benefit of this endless job hunt has been reliving these tiring, but eye-opening and delicious memories of Culinary Boot Camp. Now I'll just have to convince my parents that taking another culinary class is essential to my future as a food writer...